RATP – Rolling stock maintenance

Beyond the support and expertise that was implemented in order to understand our process, ABMI was able to advise and guide us, and put forward a constructive view of how to improve our approach.

Philippe M. - Maintenance Unit Manager

THE PROBLEM

How to perform an inventory of the company's disparate rolling-stock maintenance documents, in order to homogenise them and meet European safety standards? How to propose avenues for process improvement and cost reduction? Lastly, how to manage change at RATP? This was the threefold challenge that we met for our client.

ABMI'S SOLUTION

ABMI’s team began by seeking to understand the issues of the department concerned and the resulting work load. The intermediate stage involved performing an inventory of documents defining maintenance operations and their traceability. The last stage involved putting forward costed avenues for improvement.

METHODS IMPLEMENTED

We provided RATP with an expert consulting engineer, who worked directly with maintenance staff. Over a four-month period, working immediately in the field, our consultant provided technical analysis and suggested avenues for improvement. However, his true added-value involved providing perspective and demonstrating critical thinking in relation to the initial situation. Lastly, his independence then enabled him to provide effective change management.

THE RESULTS

All maintenance sites were consulted and staff were involved from the initial stages of the project. Our status as an independent consultant enabled us to provide a neutral and constructive space for discussion. RATP employees were able to express themselves freely, and were therefore a precious source of information. Thanks to this, we were able to suggest more than thirty improvements. Some of these, which were recognised as improvements to rolling-stock safety, as well as working conditions and efficiency, will be implemented over the coming months.